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March

Newsletter


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KANE COUNTY

 
 

IN THIS ISSUE


2040 Energy Plan Forum


Neighborhood Stabilization


Top Finance Award - Again!


Kane 911 Blizzard Response



In Other News

There's always a lot more to see and read in the Focus on the County section of our website. Just click below...

Focus on the County

Pet Corner

Our Friends at Animal Control want to remind you that the number one dog bite prevention is education. Your County Animal Control offers educational programs for adults and children. Contact Animal Control or stop by the shelter. You just might run into Matrix and Wendall (really cute!).


KANE COUNTY BOARD
click picture for Board  District  page


District 1
Myrna
Molina


District 2
Donnell
Collins


District 3
Juan
Reyna


District 4
Bonnie
Kunkel


District 5
Melisa
Taylor


District 6 
Ron
Ford


District 7
Monica
Silva


District 8
Jesse
Vazquez


District 9
James
Mitchell


District 10
Thomas
VanCleave


District 11
Michael
Donahue


District 12
John
Hoscheit


District 13
Philip
Lewis


District 14
Mark
Davoust


District 15
Barbara
Wojnicki


District 16
Michael
Kenyon


District 17
Deborah
Allan


District 18
Jeanette
Mihalec


District 19
Catherine
Hurlbut


District 20
Cristina
Castro


District 21
Timothy
Haley


District 22
Jackie
Tredup


District 23
Margaret
Auger


District 24
Hollie
Lindgren


District 25
T.R.
Smith


District 26
Drew
Frasz

Contact us

Kane County Government Center
719 So. Batavia Avenue
Geneva, IL 60134
(630)232-5930
www.countyofkane.org
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A Message from the Chairman


Even as we glance back this year on 175 years of incorporation and celebrate our formal break from LaSalle County on Jan. 16, 1836 by act of the Illinois legislature, Kane County is as focused as ever on its future.


Planning is underway this year, and progress is being made, to update our shared, long-term vision for land-use, transportation, water, energy and the health and wellness of our children and ourselves over the next 20 to 30 years. Quality of life is what attracted the first settlers to Kane County and sustaining that quality, whether it is through a neighborhood stabilization program or demonstrating strategies for conserving energy, continues to drive us today.


A 1968 commemorative booklet in observance of Illinois' 150th anniversary as a state described Kane County this way: "The strength of Kane County lies in the richness of her soil, the vigor of her people, the stubborn stability of spirit and willingness to change when the time is right. Kane County citizens of the past left us a truly and treasured heritage - they left us Kane County of today. Our people remain our greatest asset."


And they continue to do so.


Sincerely,

chairs signature

Karen McConnaughay
Kane County Board Chair

 

FORUM MARCH 8 ON ENERGY PLAN



A public forum on the recently-released draft of the Kane County 2040 Energy Plan is set for March 8 at the county Government Center, in Geneva. The open house-style forum is scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the first-floor auditorium of Building A, 719 S. Batavia Ave. In addition to a presentation of the draft energy plan representatives of various energy organizations and providers in Kane County are scheduled to host informational displays.


The complete draft plan as well as a one-page summary is available on the county's website Public comment on the draft plan is being accepted through March 11.


As outlined Feb. 16 for the Energy and Environmental Committee on Feb. 16, the Kane County 2040 Energy Plan (KC2040EP) is an update of a plan completed in 2005 that focused on how projected growth would impact electricity consumption in the county. The 2040 update has been expanded to include natural gas consumption data and municipal electric utilities data from St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia. The development of the KC2040EP is funded through an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and includes analysis of countywide energy consumption and strategies for reducing consumption over the next 30 years. << read more >>

SPEAKING OF ENERGY...

Take a Look at these Savings!


Kane County recently completed energy efficiency upgrades to six of its largest facilities that, combined, are expected to save the county over $100,000 per year on its gas and electric bills. The improvements also are expected to reduce the amount of energy the County uses by more than one million kilowatt-hours per year, or the amount of energy it would take to power 130 single-family homes each year.


The upgrades were paid for, in part, with grant funds through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Public Sector Electric Efficiency (PSEE) Program of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).


Some of the upgrades made to Kane County facilities between May 2010 and January 2011included:

  • Kane County Judicial Center: Installed over 3,800 new energy-efficient light bulbs, most of which are now controlled by either occupancy or daylight sensors.
  • Kane County Juvenile Justice Center: Replaced over 100 night lights with new LED night lights and converted gymnasium lights from inefficient metal halide to high-efficiency T5 fluorescent fixtures.
  • Kane County Third Street Courthouse: Replaced 40-50 year old uninsulated asphalt roof with new, insulated, white “cool roof”.
  • Kane County Government Center (Buildings A, B/I, C): Replaced Building I roof with new, insulated, white “cool roof”; installed over 1000 new energy- efficient light bulbs with reflectors and new occupancy and daylight sensors.
  • Vending Machine Controls: By installing simple controls to turn off lights on vending machines after-hours, the county will save over $680 annually.

Additional information on these and other projects funded by the EECBG and PSEE programs is available here.

BOARD TOURS COUNTY NSP SITES



More than a dozen members of the Kane County Board participated in a guided bus tour Feb. 8 that featured the first fruits of a Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) designed to address some of the county's worst-case examples of foreclosed, abandoned and vacant homes.


"We have a good story to tell," said Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay as a group of about 40 county and municipal officials and staff members set out from the county Government Center in Geneva north to Carpentersville, where 7 of the 13 homes included in the first phase of the NSP are located.


"This is a federal program we have taken upon ourselves to make a difference in the community," she said. It followed discussions McConnaughay said she had with the county's municipal officials about how they wanted to see the federal money best utilized. "We administer this (program) on behalf of a federal government that wants local policy makers to decide where the investment should be made," she said.


McConnaughay credited the cooperation of Kane County's municipalities with organizing the countywide stabilization initiative. "A lot of work went into pulling this program together," she said.


The $2.5 million NSP is one of the county's Recovery Act programs and includes almost all of Kane County, with the exception of Elgin and Aurora, which manage their own, according to Scott Berger, director of the Kane County Office of Community Reinvestment, who organized the NSP tour.


Under the NSP foreclosed houses up-and- down the Fox Valley have been renovated to "like-new" condition and are being available for purchase to eligible homebuyers. From start to finish, the target for turning around a home is 7 to 10 months and involve homes that the private housing market is not touching, "basically the worst of the worst," according to Berger. "We're specifically not competing with the private sector," he said. "We really see this as part of the strategy to foster a renaissance in the urban corridor."


According to the program's phase one statistics, the average purchase price of the 13 single-family homes acquired with NSP funding was $80,471 and each required an average of $104,710 in rehabilitation work, which was done or is being completed by 35 private contractors, including 24 from Kane County. In all, it is estimated that more than 19 full-time jobs have been created or retained as a result of the program.

KANE MEANS SOUND FISCAL POLICY


Meet your award-winning Finance Department:  Leonardo Beltran, Erica Waggoner, and Department Executive Director Cheryl Pattelli.


Kane County has once again achieved the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting with an award-winning comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR), county board Chairman Karen McConnaughay has announced. Kane County was one of just 13 counties in Illinois to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence for 2010 by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA), she said.
<< read more >>

BLIZZARD RESPONSE RECOGNIZED



Even as the last remnants of the blizzard of 2011 vanish with time, a record of the response to the region's third largest snowstorm ever the events of Feb. 1 and 2 by several dozen Kane County employees and volunteers is being made part of county's permanent public record.


A resolution recommended for approval by the Kane County Board's Public Health Committee and expected to receive full county board on March 8 formally recognizes the many selfless contributions made in response to the blizzard.


Among other things, the resolution thanks 35 volunteers from the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) as well as members of the Hampshire White Riders and Du-Kane Snow Mobile Club for providing search and rescue services to more than 50 stranded motorists and with helping assist with emergency shelter operations and providing transportation for physicians who needed to reach hospitals and assuring that stranded KaneComm telecommunications workers could report for duty.
<< read more >>


BLIZZARD DOESN'T STOP KANECOMM


Imagine a 911 operator relaying to a citizen that help is not on the way? While it rarely arises, that was the situation that some 911 dispatchers of KaneComm found themselves in at the height of the blizzard that buried Kane County and the Chicago region Feb. 1-2, according to Jennifer Baustian, director of KaneComm. Ranging from mundane inquiries about roadway conditions to responding to life-threatening incidents that required large-scale deployment of resources, KaneComm dispatchers and staff fielded a total of 2,487 calls during the blizzard, she said.


"There simply are not words to adequately describe the pride that I felt after witnessing the performance and dedication of our staff during this horrendous event. It is a remarkable thing to behold the spirit of public service truly exemplified," said Baustian.


"By trade a 911 dispatcher is in essence the “first” first responder. However, their work generally goes unseen by the public who they serve," she said. "KaneComm's commitment to serve 'as a vital link between the citizens of Kane County and the public safety agencies devoted to protecting them,' as stated in our mission statement, was exemplified by every single member of the Kane County Emergency Communications staff who served during the blizzard of 2011," said Baustian. For Baustian's own account of the events of Feb. 1-2,  << read more >>

 


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